For tutoring session #14 with Christian, I had planned out
a pretty cerebral lesson, centered around using chalk on the driveway to
practice and reinforce the upper and lower-case letters, copying simple words, letter-word
association, etc. But, when I arrived at Christian’s house that Thursday
evening, it was very clear that he was feeling very low-energy, and was in a
bad mood. He had just woken up from a nap, and it was the end of the first week
of school for him.
I
tried to hype him up for our lesson, but it failed to pull him out of his
slump. It was obvious that it would be best not to try out what I had planned
for him, as it would only make him more miserable that evening, and risk the possibility of weakening our teacher-student relationship. In my backpack,
I had brought my Gameboy Advance with a copy of the Legend of Zelda. In previous sessions, Christian would ask me: “Next
time, can you bring this one?” as he
would pantomime with his thumbs and fingers playing a handheld videogame
device. I don’t how he knew.
I
had brought the videogame as a reward for after the lesson, but I decided it
would be best to try out some speaking and listening practice for that session
by teaching him how to play Zelda. I guided him through dungeons and fields within the game, and he understood. He
had some difficulty navigating the game, but I he definitely enjoyed it. I taught him the
directions “left” and “right,” so hopefully those ideas will stick with him.
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